For individuals considering an EB-1-1, EB-1-2
or EB-2 National Interest Waiver application, the issue of
“membership in associations” is an important one. The right
kind of association membership can provide valuable evidence of an
individual’s eligibility for any one of these employment-based
classifications.

Unfortunately, the immigration regulations
provide very little in terms of helping applicants determine how
much weight U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“CIS”)
will give a membership in a particular association. For example,
the EB-1-1 “Extraordinary Ability” classification lists ten
primary categories of evidence that CIS will consider in
adjudicating these kinds of petitions. The category regarding
association memberships states:

“Documentation of
the alien’s membership in associations in the field for which
classification is sought, which require outstanding achievements
of their members, as judged by recognized national or
international experts in their disciplines or fields”

“Documentation of
the alien’s membership in associations in the academic field,
which require outstanding achievements of their members”

With regards to the National Interest Waiver
(“NIW”) category, there are no specifically listed groups of
evidence as there are for the above classifications. Nonetheless,
it is fair to assume that CIS would be willing to consider
evidence of association memberships in an NIW case if the evidence
provided meaningful verification of the individual’s ability.

It is clear, therefore, that CIS’ position
regarding the evidentiary value of association memberships is an
extremely important consideration. In approaching this issue,
however, it is actually easier to work backwards. In other words,
CIS has been fairly clear about what kinds of association
memberships do not constitute meaningful evidence of
someone’s ability.

For example, an association that only
requires an applicant to pay a membership fee in order to join
will clearly not be considered significant evidence by CIS.
Similarly, associations that simply require that a person be
“involved” or “interested” in the field will also not be
considered noteworthy evidence.

The key, therefore, in determining the
evidentiary value of a particular membership is the
association’s selection criteria. In other words, what the
association requires of its membership candidates will be a
central consideration. For example, an association that requires
membership candidates to have achieved a specified level of
recognized accomplishment would likely be considered significant
evidence.

It is also important, however, to
differentiate between the various membership categories within
the association. For example, a “full” membership in a
particular association might have significantly higher selection
standards than an “associate” or “student” membership in
the same organization.

In summary, it is important to establish an
association’s selection criteria if an applicant wants CIS to
seriously consider their membership as meaningful evidence. Which
specific associations constitute good evidence and what kind of
documentation needs to be submitted is a case-by-case
consideration. If you should have specific questions regarding a
particular membership or association, please feel free to contact
our office for a free evaluation.